Shalom #17

Time To Wrap It Up

May 6, 1989

Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we realize as the prophet preached this message “Shalom,” he mentions several times Your Presence having come down amongst us, manifesting Yourself, putting great stock in it, and giving us an understanding of the fulfillment of the Word in this hour. And we pray, Lord, that what came to him will be revealed to us. We don’t ask for the same depth of intensity, because he was a prophet, but we ask for the same revelation, which we have need of at this time. So, we pray you’ll teach us Your Word tonight. May we get immersed in it and thoroughly lost in it, enjoying it, loving it, feeding on it, making it more than our necessary meat, because it is the bread from heaven.

Help each one of us to catch the glow, to rise and shine for the light has come upon us to be a part of it; and, if it’s necessary, in some way to manifest it, (And that’s wonderful to us.) but whatever You want. We know the prophet gave a promise from You, that the Bride would have the Word and know what to do with it. So, Lord, we believe that’s our portion tonight. We thank You for it. We believe, therefore, You’ll feed our souls and help us to come to that higher position, until one day the very dead come out of the ground, we are changed, and we all go to the Wedding Supper to see You incarnate again. That’s going to be wonderful, Lord. We appreciate it so much. We’ve already caught a glimpse of it and have seen the prelude to it, the coming before the coming, the Appearing in this hour, the rising of the Day Star, the coming of the Son. We just give ourselves to You in meditation, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

You may be seated. 

1. Now we are to number 17 in “Shalom.” And last Sunday we noted that Bro. Branham in teaching God’s Peace—which is ‘Shalom’, or ‘Shalom’ is God’s Peace—he spoke of two things in particular. We made note of more than two. But the two things in particular at the time of “Shalom,” where he said, “I bring you God’s Peace,” number one: there would be gross darkness; number two: there would be light.

Now it is self-evident that, if there is no light, life cannot exist, or, if it does, it will finally cease to exist. Now the reason I said that the first statement is more correct than the second is because, if there were no light, there simply would not be any life. Now, what I’m referring to is: the experts in marine life tell us that they can bring up fish from the depths of the ocean that actually do not have eyes, because there’s no sunlight down there; and they, therefore, do not need eyes. It’s total darkness.

You say, “How do they live?”

Well, they live on some type of sustenance that gets down to them by reason of the sun. There has to be light, if there’s going to be life.

2. So, it is self-evident, then, if there is no light then life does not exist. Thus, we can reduce to a very simple term what darkness is. It’s declared in the dictionary and people say it’s the absence of light which means death. That’s what it is. Darkness is death; light is life. Death therefore, according to Isaiah 60, is in universal sway as darkness was in Gen 1:1-2. Now you’ll notice in there that evidently the universes were already in order to a degree. It says:

(1) In the beginning God created the heaven(s) and the earth.

(2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (And, of course, after that, then,)

(3) God said, Let there be light:

3. Now, over here in Revelation 3, and notice in verse 14[1]; this is the end time Message from God to the end time messenger to the people. And in verse 17:

(17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Now, what you’re looking at, at the end time, is an appalling condition of spiritual darkness; because these people are absolutely blind to the conditions in which they live. Therefore, God has not granted to them repentance! He hasn’t. This comes at a time of Hebrews 6, where there is only one opportunity to repent, (That’s to change the mind.) and turning it down, there is no further hope. So, you see a condition of spiritual death obtains at the last age, as God has already told the fifth age, the darkness of the Roman Catholic Church, those hundreds and hundreds of years, that “I will kill her children with death.” In other words death has set in. And death is darkness and darkness is death. That’s pure and simple.

4.  Now, notice: in Genesis, it was the Presence of God that brought forth the Word that brought forth the light. And it’s the presence of God in Revelation 3, that, if there is any light, and, if there is any Word, and there is any repentance unto life, He would have to be there. And, notice it.

(20) Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

He is amongst us in order to bring the Word, which brings the light, which is synonymous with life. That’s why Jesus said, “My Word is Spirit and it is Life.” In other words, if there is no Presence, there is no Word, there is no light, there is no life. But, if there is Presence, there has to be a Word, there has to be light, there has to be life. And you will notice particularly, that human life was the last life that was granted. Just like in the days ahead of us. When God is going to re-create the universes, everything will be done preparatory and previous to our coming upon it. God never changes the divine order and that’s wonderful.

5. Therefore, darkness is a condition caused by the absence of the Word even though God is there, as in the case of Egypt. God was there. The land of Goshen alone had light. There was a darkness in Egypt that was a gross darkness. You could literally feel it. On the other hand, let us not minimize the fact that those in light felt the light! They just didn’t see the light. They felt it. As the others were literally numbed, and they could not move, they had lost their freedom; they were totally bound in Egypt. (The Bible tells us, man nor beast moved. You couldn’t see your hand before your face.) But in Goshen there was light! They were absolutely free in the light and the life of God. That’s why Bro. Branham made such strong comments and explanations concerning the Word of God. And that’s why he could come with this message and say, “I bring you God’s Peace,” based upon the fact that the people could arise and shine, because the light had come upon them! They were able to intermingle, to have fellowship, to enjoy God, and to enjoy the fruit and the blessing of God, while all around them others were going down.

6. As I said last Sunday, the Bible distinctly says God’s going to destroy those that destroy the earth. So, there has to be people here like Exxon, destroying the earth! I was talking to my son today, and I said, “We don’t understand ecology and the delicate balance of ecology. We don’t understand interfacing. We don’t understand influence that everything has upon everything else.” But I said, “I wonder what America lost when it lost the carrier pigeon?”

See, you’ve got to understand that there’s something in here, brother/sister that the world doesn’t understand and live by. They’re always looking for some great big thing beyond the Word, when the Word of God categorically tells us: there’ll be a new heaven and a new earth, there’ll be a Lamb on the throne, there’ll be a Bride there, they’ll have a Pillar of Fire above it, and all the rest bring their glory in. And they want some stupid Houdini thing that Bro. Branham preached against. I challenge you tonight, to get your thinking right that this is what you’re facing! And, if you think you’re facing something else, you’re absolutely wrong! You’re not going to get it! Man doesn’t even have a right to think about it on his own.

7. The Bible says, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard the good things that God hath prepared.” If you like what you see here, and you can visualize what the pristine state and the old vernal state of this world was in the Garden of Eden, (And you can do it to a degree by what you see out there.) let me tell you something: you are merely blowing bubbles in the face of what you’re really going to see. And it’s going to be the same order, but God’s divine order—human beings and all these wonderful things out there, and God’s doing it for us.

So, what we are seeing, rather, at the end time, is a total eclipse of the Word in the world church and in the cosmos itself, because it’s all being destroyed and going down. And at the same time the gospel Truth gives light to the Bride. We saw that in 2 Thessalonians. Now you see it all the time when you read Scripture. Remember, the parallelism of Scripture: there cannot be a curse without a blessing; there cannot be a blessing without a curse; there cannot be light without darkness; there cannot be darkness without light. So automatically, whenever you see something like that, you’ve got to stop and consider that or you will be misguided as to Scripture.

8. In 2 Th 2:8:

(8) Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his (Presence):

(9) Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders (see, a man is going to be there, just the embodiment of Satan, like Judas was),

(10) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;

Now, watch. The fact is, deception is death! Eve was deceived, Adam wasn’t! He deliberately walked away. What do you think is going to happen at the end time, where people deliberately walk away? Well, no son of God’s going to do it. So cheer up, and don’t feel bad. I just had to bring that out though. And It says here:

(10) With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

(11) And for this cause God (will) send them strong delusion.

Now they’re not just deceived, but the deception becomes a delusion, which means the deception is truth to them. Now the Bible said, “When your light becomes darkness, how great is that darkness?” You see?

9. (12) That they all might be (condemned that) believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And that’s a wrong form of worship when a revelation has been given you. In other words, if people continue to worship God in a trinity, they won’t make it!

They say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, you don’t dare say that!”

I dare say it, because Bro. Branham said it’s witchcraft—and idolatry. And, if I said any less, I’d be deceiving you people here and leading you astray, and I’d be a heretic to the truth. The Bible says reject a fellow like that. Don’t give him another chance after the first admonition. Don’t even give him a second chance. Let’s not talk about love, unless we’ve got our love right, brother/sister. Oh, there’s no room for a lie. Don’t ever think there is. Otherwise, why did God condemn it?

(13) But we are bound to give thanks alway(s) to God for you, brethren (now there’s the light!), because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (or the Greek could say even belief of the truth):

Because Jesus Himself said, “Sanctify them by Thy Word. Thy Word is Truth.” And Moses said, “You are different from everybody else because of this great Word that God has given you.” And it prepared them to go into Canaan land, which is a type or a figure of going into the Millennium. That’s exactly why there has to be a Message.

People say, “Well, I don’t think I need it.”

Listen! Can’t you see God’s Word in continuity? If you don’t see it in continuity, you’re missing the prophet’s advice.

(14) Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (And, just watch that all the time, that glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s very important.)

10. Now the lie is in Rev 3:17. Look at that lie for the end time. You’ve got to understand the lie, which is the deception: thou shalt not surely die; but put it at the end time, Revelation 3, where It brings it out. And It says here:

(17) Because thou sayest (here’s the lie), I am rich, increased with goods, have need of nothing (there’s the lie right there); and knowest not that (there’s the truth) art wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked:

So therefore, the cry of the Laodicean Age according to 2 Thessalonians, (And the Spirit of God wrote both of those books by the mouth and the hand of John and Paul.) and He said they’re going to believe the lie and be condemned. And the lie is, “The church is okay, millions are going to make it. We don’t need anything! What’s this about needing Elijah or needing William Branham or somebody? Why he’s nothing but a cult and a heretic.”

There is the lie that has been perpetrated. See? Already the devil has entrée, carte blanche, to the world church system and cosmos, to bring his man on the scene and take over, because they have believed the lie: “We don’t need Elijah the prophet. That’s for the Jews. Who says we need this or that? Who said we’re wretched, miserable, naked and blind? We’re not.”

Why, It says… Listen:

(17) (We’re) increased with goods, (We’re rich. We’ve got) need of nothing;

Who reads himself as poor, wretched, miserable, naked and blind, and now has to come to God in order to get these things, which they most assuredly believe they’ve already got. So what is the lie today? Anything contrary to the prophetic message that God brought forth in His Own way of vindication.

11. Now no one will doubt a Bride must be ready. No one will doubt that. They can see it only too clearly over here in Matthew 25. It tells about the Bride being ready.

(10) And while they came to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went with him to the marriage (supper): and the door was shut.

Now, how are you going to believe any kind of a call to a Bride to come on out, to see the Bridegroom, that this Bride needs anything, when they believe already they’re already prepared? Now they don’t believe for one minute that the Bride doesn’t get ready. And they don’t believe for one minute that the Bride doesn’t make herself ready. Oh, they believe that far too much. Because they take that one verse of Scripture against every other verse of Scripture that would indicate somebody or something must come in order that that act be finally done. “Oh, we make ourselves ready, we’re not wretched. We’re rich.” They believe the lie, and the lie is going to destroy them.  

12. Bro. Branham put it this way. He said, “Just before the sun rises,” is Malachi 4 over here. It’s the last book of the Old Testament. So, let’s look at it.

(1) For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, it (will) leave them neither root nor branch.

(2) But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun (S-u-n) of righteousness arise with healing in his wings (which is immortality); and (you) shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.

In other words, at the time of the Rapture, you go into a further stage of sanctification, which is for your welfare and my welfare, previous to the entering into the New Jerusalem era. You’re not going to stand still and just let grass grow under your feet. And further…

(3) And (you) shall tread down the wicked; (they’ll) be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Now, at this particular time, before we are changed, transfigured, transformed, and caught away in the Rapture to the Wedding Supper, just before that S-u-n rises, the Day Star arises. And this is where Bro. Branham said, “He comes before He comes,” which is “He appears before the Second Coming.” And he said, “The Day Star arising is that He’s amongst us—His Word being identified.” And we saw that in 2 Peter 1, concerning… Peter saying, “Listen, we were there for this momentous event. And it was a prophetic vision concerning the literal coming of the Kingdom. We saw it in token. We saw it in a form of a vision, an omen. But,” he said, “there’s coming a time of the prophecy made more sure.” And he said, “That has to do with the rising of the Day Star.” And Bro. Branham said the rising Day Star is Christ among us, vindicated, and His Word being fully identified.

13. So therefore, Peter is speaking of a time when the Word of God is even more fully identified—and the Presence—than the time he saw Him transfigured! Now we must get that into our thinking! I’ve got to get in mine, because here we are. And I know you sitting there, and you know me up here, we are looking at each other as a couple of needy people! We’re not getting it as deeply as we should! This is the epiphany of Christ, Who has returned as the Holy Spirit in a Pillar of Fire! As Bro. Branham said, “I am not the Son of man. The Pillar of Fire is not the Son of man. It’s in the form of the Holy Ghost.” We’ve seen the days of the Son of man return. And we’ve seen prophecy made more sure than when they stood right there, and he wrote a letter telling us about it. Now, let that sink in. Either I’m lying, or Peter’s lying, or William Branham was lying. So, I’m in good company. We’ve got the finest liars in history. Peter was crucified upside down for his Lord and died for his Lord, talking about what I’m talking about. We are looking at the most tremendous thing of the Ages. And you know what? It’s going over people’s heads and their hearts. But it won’t continue to do so. There’s no way, because we’re just getting an understanding now of it, so the Holy Spirit can quicken it. It’s like Paul said, “If you live in the Spirit, walk in it.” In other words, if God has given us a revelation, then God is duty-bound to give that which goes with it—which is the dynamization of the mechanics. See?

14. All right. Let’s compare this with John. Now, remember; the voice in the holy mount, the mighty great vision that he saw—all of this. Now, let’s go to Jn 12:28. And It says then, Jesus said:

(28) Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Now that’s what was said. Now; let’s go over here to Hebrews 12, and hear what Paul had to say about this. This is just before the Millennium, which brings us to the New Jerusalem later.

(25) See that (you) refuse not him that speaketh. (Now somebody speaks.) For if they escape not who refused him that (spoke) on earth, much more shall (we) not escape, if we turn from him that speaks from heaven:

No, it doesn’t say speak from heaven, if we turn from the One from heaven. Now, where is the One from heaven? Rev 10:1, which is Rev 5:1, which is Almighty God Himself. See?

(26) Whose voice then shook the earth: but now (once more) promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (Mount Sinai, but look at today.)

(27) And this word, once more, (signifies) the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Now, what cannot be shaken? Peter said, “This is what we saw, but you’ve got something more sure!” Why is it more sure? Because Peter only had a vision, and we are at the end time of reality. We’re going to walk into it! He was two thousand years off! We are two thousand years down the road. Bro. Branham speaks of being down the road.

15. Now remember, this remains! This promise remains! This is the thing that counts! This is the stabilizer! This is what’s going to get you through when nothing else can get you through: the sure Word of prophecy.

Now I know it sounds far fetched. Everybody wants to go back to the day of Jesus and the day of Paul and all. Forget it. It’s like when that old fellow, I forget his name, but I’ll remember later on. Down in North Carolina. Baptist minister, dying of cancer. He didn’t want to die. Brilliant, fine man of God. He lay dying, and he was communing with himself and talking to the Lord.

And he said, “Lord, if I was just back there in Palestine with You, You on earth,” he said, “I could touch You.”

And like a voice said, “If I was back there, you couldn’t even get to me.”

And, when he began to understand how God worked, he was suddenly healed. And the bedsprings were hot to his touch, even. It’s a phenomenon. I don’t go too much for phenomena. You can’t go by that. You got to go by the fact of the voice being a scriptural voice. It wouldn’t have done any good! The man was perfectly healed by the power of God and became a great minister of the Gospel.

16. Now It says:

(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved…

Now, listen to me. What is he saying here? Hearing the Voice from heaven gives you the Kingdom which cannot be moved! And, unless you hear the One from heaven, you will not be in that Kingdom; you’ll be shaken down, because everything is going to be dissolved! Absolutely. Now:

(28) … cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

(29) For our (God’s) a consuming fire.

Now It tells you right here, these people looking forward to this had to be like walking very reverently, very carefully. Well, we must be, too. But there’s a difference between them and us. They merely were pointing to it, pointing to us, here at the end time promise. And we’re looking at it.

17. Now you’ll notice that this is Eph 1:17. We read It.

(17) The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (Who came down? He did.)

(18) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that (you) may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of (his) glory (in the) inheritance in the saints, (and so on, right down to the end of the line to verse 23.)

Now we know that this is Christ our peace, His very Presence, bringing us peace from God, or the very peace of God, God’s Own Peace. “Shalom” is a message of Peace, and the Message is vindicated. So therefore, this must be 2 Th 1:7, which is the relaxation in a time of gross and utter darkness. That’s what you’re looking at.

(7) You (that) are troubled rest with us, (relax under the Seventh Seal.)

All right now. And we also know that this has to be the time of the First Resurrection, which Bro. Branham shows it by quoting Paul in Phil 3:10-14, on page 23, which we’ll study. But now, remember, we were on page 22. And Bro. Branham bringing this message has brought us to the place of saying, “All right, I’ve finished talking about darkness,” although he really hadn’t. But he laid the foundation. “I want to finish talking about light,” though he really hadn’t. He just laid the foundation. “And now we’re going to go on,” and naturally he would talk about a rising and shining and going into the New Year and showing us exactly what we could expect from what he brought us. Now, how much that’s going to be, I don’t know; that depends on how God opens up this Word to us, because the man would do what he’s supposed to do.

18.  Now he says here, paragraph 136:

[136] Now, what about the new year that we’re facing? Because this is a New Year Message. We could have more to say on this in-between, from darkness to the Light. We could have more to say then of what is going on now, as He amongst us, the Word vindicated, God having moved, purely fulfilling His Word, in order that you have your transition from the darkness which you were in, to the Light. Just like Paul said, “You’re not children of the night. You’re now children of the day.” What day are you now a child of? The Light. The Millennium. You’re already identified. To the Light, introducing the Light coming between, but now we want to go right straight to the new year. All right.

[137] New year, new year, what about it? Brings me hope. In other words an earnest expectation. See? Faith giving way to hope. Faith, hope, love. It’s giving way. It’s giving way—faith is giving way to the earnest expectation; and the earnest expectation… You don’t hope for what you’ve got. Because what does a man hope for when he’s got it? Giving way, then, to the very presence of God, which is love. And God is love, Who is here. All right. Brings me hope. We’re one year closer. We’re one day closer than we were yesterday. We’re one hour closer than when we started, fifteen minutes to eleven, it’s fifteen till twelve. One hour closer! We don’t look back, we look forward. See? Oh! Yes, sir. New year doesn’t mean turning a new page. Now, you remember that, that this is twenty-five year old sermon.

[138] It’s like a certain man one morning. This man got up early and went out and picked up the paper, came back, sat down, put his feet up on the divan, put his glasses on, began to read the paper. His wife was out getting breakfast, and she said, “John, anything new?”

[139] He said, “No. Same old thing; just new people.” Now you put that in the light of the Scripture, there’s nothing changes, its just people enacting the same scene. Always was there, right from the Garden of Eden, unbelief, getting away from the Word and so on. That’s right. Murders, rape, everything else, somebody else has done it. See? That’s true.

[140] Not turn a new page. Now, let’s read this whole paragraph. It’s, turn to the Word, see what the Word promises for today, see what the Light of the day is supposed to be. What we ought to do this year is not to go back to creeds and things, go back to our old denominations, not go back to old denominations; but turn to the Word, see what kind of a Light is supposed to shine today. Oh, church, turn to the Word, get back to the Word, flip the right switch, quit punching around on electric lights (See?), they’re artificial, manmade. Turn to His Word and see the promise of today. And then, see what the promise is, and watch for its identification. When it’s vindicated, then you know whether you’re in Light or not. See what the promise is.

Now Bro. Branham says here, “Turn not and don’t turn a new page. It’s, turn to the Word,” and see what Word promises for the day, the Word promises for today.

19. Now, look. What you’re looking at here is something Bro. Branham said, that you cannot wrest Scripture by applying a verse that belongs in one age to another age. So, when he’s saying here, “Turn to the Word, to see what the Word promises for today, what the Light of the day is supposed to be,” he’s warning us that there is a certain truth, Word promise, promises, truths, doctrine, expectations, that are for this hour and for this hour only. And, if you look back and take the expectation of another hour, or a general concept and understanding which goes from Age One all the way to Age Seven and through it, because the Blood holds all the way through, and the rebirth is always one and the same. There’s certain things that obtain. But there are certain other things that do not obtain! And they are positively for that specific time, and they identify that time! And that’s what Bro. Branham is warning about. Don’t be a student of the Scripture and theology! No theologian ever made it or ever will make it on the basis of reasoning.

20.  Look what Paul says over here in the Book of Hebrews at this particular time; and we’re looking, of course, at chapter 6.

(1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ (that’s the Logos of Christ), let us go on (to) perfection;

In other words you are no longer looking at the inception, so to speak, of Christ, the beginning of the creation of God. You are not looking at that any longer. You are going beyond it. And Bro. Branham said the beginning of the creation of God was God forming Himself into human flesh. Then what is beyond it? It is a Bride over which He reigns in New Jerusalem! So, you’re not going back to fuss about Godhead, although there’s one God. He tells you that factually. You’re not here to fuss about doctrine. You are here to know what is vindicated for the hour. Now what Bro. Branham brings it out, will be the doctrine.

(1) Let us go on (to) perfection (a conclusion); not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

(2) The doctrine of baptism, of laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

(3) This will do, if God permit.

21. What’s he telling you? He’s telling you it’s time to finish it all up! Now, what does the finishing up consist of?

(4) (It’s) impossible for those who were once (for all) enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift, (partake) of the Holy Ghost,

(5) Taste the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

(6) (Having fallen) away, to (ever give them an insight and a) repentance.

Utter darkness and death. Now that’s what you’re looking at here. Now then, is the church in the world prepared for the end? Oh, no. No sir. Well, you and I… Look, we’re not beyond the stage where we don’t understand Godhead and understand doctrine and things. I’m not trying to say that. I’m just trying to tell you: look, the Message has been brought. We are ready by the grace of God to step into immortality, and all of this will be a hindsight in a particular way. Not that you’d throw it away, but you see there’s a reality that Peter spoke of, of moving in to the realm that is beyond the intellectual. It’s where you know that you know, like Abraham.

You come to the place where Abraham came. He came to the full assurance of faith. Then, he no longer considered his own body now dead, nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. He was strong in faith, giving God the glory. Why? Because he knew by literal vindication, by God Himself, that God raises the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were. And Bro. Branham came right on the scene, raising at least five from the dead, seeing creation manifested by the power of Almighty God, and brought us right to this place where he spoke of being in the presence of God at the White Throne—things which are not as though they were. In other words we have come to the place of a finality of faith. Now we cannot be shaken: Period. You become as endurable as the Word of God, which cannot pass away, because you are the Word of Almighty God. Living epistles that maybe read and known of all men, and written by Almighty God.

22. “The Word of promise for today.” Let’s go back to the very beginning and see the Word of promise today. It’s right over here in Matthew 3. John the Baptist is speaking. Now he hasn’t come to the place where he’s introduced Jesus yet. He is talking about Jesus. He declares His ministry, he shows Who He is, Who He is in the Word, and he answers the critics. And he doesn’t have any sympathy with the critics who are the Pharisees and Sadducees.

(7) O generation of vipers, who (has) warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

And Jesus Himself called them serpent seed. Vipers.

(8) Bring forth therefore fruits for repentance:

Bring forth fruits for repentance! How can this age repent, when it doesn’t consider vindication and a vindicated prophet? How? They can’t repent. “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; because others wanted to see what you wanted to see, and couldn’t see it, but you see it.” And he said, “Blind leaders of the blind. But blessed are your eyes that you see.” How? Because the eyes haven’t been darkened with the deceitfulness of sin and unbelief.

23. Now he said:

(9) Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: (And they said it right to Jesus. Here’s old John saying the same thing Jesus said. It’s the same Holy Ghost.) for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children (of) Abraham.

(10) (But) now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees (you notice that? It doesn’t say that about Him coming to the Gentiles): therefore every tree (that) bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

It already started way back there. Two thousand years ago, before Jesus ever came on the scene ministering, He was already depicted as the Judge, the same as Brother Branham and John did. Reading on:

(10) Therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Now, listen.)

(11) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and fire.

(12) Whose fan is in his hand, thoroughly purge his floor, gather his wheat (in) the garner; burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Did He do that? He didn’t do that. He didn’t do it—only in token. One hundred and forty-four thousand are still being sealed in to God. The Gentile Bride is being taken away. But I’m trying to show you here: what is the Word for today? Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever; and He’s in His Appearing now, the same Son of man Who has judgment committed unto Him. The prophet. So, what is He doing now? The fan is in His hand, thoroughly purging the floor, gathering the wheat in the garner, preparatory to burning up the chaff! And the chaff is the last group of people that the Bride comes out of! That’s Pentecostal. That’s the Bible.

24. “See what the Light is for the day.” What is the Light for today? Go over here to the Book of Amos. And we look at Amos 3:7.

(7) Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants (his) prophets.

It tells you that. That’s true. In 1965, Bro. Branham preached “This Day Is This Scripture Fulfilled.” Then, just before he left the scene in 1965, he preached “The Rapture.” He laid the whole thing out. That’s the Message for the day, the promise that the Lord Himself would descend from heaven with a Shout, and there are a people who say they believe this Message, and the majority rise up in rebellion when one says He is here! I say, Who is that that’s here? [Bro. Vayle points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire over Bro. Branham.] What has He done? What is He doing? And, if you can’t answer, I’m going to tell you one thing: then He isn’t doing you one bit of good. He’s only here to do you harm and damnation; because it always goes light and dark, judgment unto condemnation, or judgment unto vindication. Can one change it with your own puny thoughts? You can’t change God and His ways. No way. Don’t try to do it. Pray for God to give you revelation, if you don’t understand what’s going on.

25. Now he said, “See what the Light of the day is supposed to be.” What’s the Light of the day supposed to be? See? The Light of the day. People believe He’s coming. They believe there’s an Appearing, but they can’t place 1 Th 4:16, “The Lord descending with a Shout.” they can’t place it. They can’t do it.

The minute they begin talking about that, they say, “He descends, and He stays up there; then we go to meet Him.”

That’s not the Bible; He comes right down here. Then we meet our Lord in the air. Like “the Lord saith to my Lord, ‘Sit Thou at My right hand.’” They don’t understand. That is Jehovah talking to the Son. Elohim is here while the Son is on the Father’s throne.

[140] What’s the Light for this day supposed to be. Now, what we ought to do this year is not go back to creeds and things, go back to old denominations, see? Not go back to old denominations, he repeats it; but turn to the Word, see what kind of Light is supposed to shine today.

Now, look; that sounds very good! But, who is going to do this individually? And you have millions of people who claim to be Christians. Now, who are you going to vote to go to God and get the answer to get this? Now anybody knows the prophet has told the truth here. There is a Word that could not be fulfilled until this hour. What is that Word? Is it just sit around and say, “He’s coming, hallelujah; and we know we’re born again. We speak in tongues; we do this; we do that. We know we’ve got something.” Is that what it’s all about? Well, if that’s what it’s all about, I can’t buy it, because I don’t know that they know! And they can’t prove it.

“The trouble with you,” they say, “Vayle, is you’re just too stubborn. You don’t want anything unproven.”

I say, “Now hold it. I’m not stubborn. It’s you’re too blinded to see that I’m just light enough to demand something that you haven’t got!” [End of side one of the audio tape.]

And they better have something. They don’t have to convince me, because I won’t listen to a man in their corner. Not now, because it’s just too dangerous.

26. You talk about an Appearing, and I want to know about it. And I don’t want anybody anywhere to try to tell me they know more than I know, because most don’t even know that I know that something came down! And there’s a picture right there! And that’s not in heaven. William Branham said, “The prophet is on earth, and I am that prophet when that One comes down! He said, “That is a picture of God!” And where’s God? Tell me where He is. He’s right here somewhere in the form of a Pillar of Fire to raise the dead. Don’t try to tell me something different.

I don’t take time with people anymore that don’t understand this. I’ve not got time for it, because as soon as they ask a question, when I mention that one word, Jesus, where does your mind go? And I’ll say I’ll tell you… Don’t tell me. You go to a man sitting on the mercy seat or on the throne. You don’t know Bro. Branham said He’s returned to a Pillar of Fire. Paul the Apostle said we don’t know Him after the flesh, and we won’t know Him until the incarnation. Tell me how many people—so-called believers that believe we’re at the end time—understand that? You know why they don’t understand? They don’t want to understand. They want to do it. Bro. Branham said, “Don’t do it.”—old denominations and creeds and dogmas. What kind of a Light is supposed to shine today? The Day Star! Christ among us. The Word vindicated. Say what the prophet said.

27. “Oh church, turn to the Word. Get back to the Word.” In other words, arise with the Day Star and shine with the Day Star. The Bride shines with the light of the Day Star, because the Son is not here to give us immortality. Oh, It’s here to do it, but It’s not going to do it right now. You’re in the Light of the vindicated Word. So, every testimony is that we have a vindicated Word. And they’re going to sneer at it.

We don’t care if they sneer. We’ve gotten over their sneers, because, if we’re right, and I believe we are, our voices will thunder at the full consummation of the White Throne, and witness against those who turned down the Message.

28. [140]  Now he said, oh, church, turn to the Word, get back to the Word, flip the right switch, get back to the Word, they say, “We never were off the Word.” Well, what were you on? Flip the right switch, quit punching around on electric lights, artificial, manmade lights. Turn to see the promise of today. Turn to see the promise? How do you see? Revelation. And then, see what the promise is, and watch for its identification.

Well, is there a promise people can read about for this hour? The Appearing? The days of the Son of man? Elijah the prophet? They don’t believe that Matthew 12 belongs to us, that He must come back here and do the same works that He did for Israel. But the Bible says so. They don’t believe that. You show me that in any book of theology you can possibly put your hands on. Let them explain Eph 1:17. They can’t do it. There’s not one book that explains it. Go to any library you want, pick up any book on theology; you cannot find these answers! The only man that told the truth, way back there, (I forget his name just at this point here—Rotherham.) when it came to the Word, even ‘parousia’, the ‘Presence’, he said, “That’s a word nobody knows exactly what it means.” He said, “We had better wait until it’s manifested, then we’ll know it.”

Bro. Branham said the same thing. Any good theologian should say the same thing. But now they say, “We’re rich, increased in goods; we don’t need anything.”

That’s the lie, because it’s death. Because that is darkness, and darkness is death. See, you cannot change one from the other. Light is life, life is light, light is life, back and forth. Death is darkness; darkness is death, back and forth. You can’t change it. And there’s no such thing, Bro. Branham said, as a drunk sober person, or a black white bird. There’s no such thing. You’re either black or white. You’re either drunk or sober. You can’t mix the two up.

29. “When it’s vindicated, then you know whether you’re in the Light or not. See what the promise is.” In other words Bro. Branham is going to his own ministry here, which has the evidences. And, let’s understand the truth here: Paul in the Book of Hebrews, says the same thing in Heb 2:1.

(1) Therefore we ought to give (them) more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip.

(2) For if the word spoken by angel was stedfast, and every transgression disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

(3) How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which (was) first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.

Now, just a minute! Let’s go back to Jesus in John 14! And, when they said, “Show us the Father, and it will satisfy us,” He said, “Have I been so long that you don’t know the Father? Understand this,” He said, “When you see me, you see the Father, because the Father in me is doing the works.” Is this any different? No! It’s a vindicated Message that Paul had. He said, “I never came to you just talking. I came to you in the power of Almighty God. I was vindicated.” He pointed the same way Jesus did, to the light of the hour! Now that can’t happen again till the end time! Oh, they want to put it in age two, three, four, five, six. It won’t work!

30. Let these smart theologians, tell me when did He appear in Age Two? When did He appear in Age Three? When Four, Five, and Six, tell me? You see, He’s supposed to appear in Age Seven, right? Tell me what He’s appearing? What’s it all about? They’ll stick Him right up there someplace in the sky, or make it the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

They haven’t got it. They haven’t got it. Bro. Branham tells about them a little later on in this message, [Shalom].

31. Now, listen. He says in paragraph 141:

[141] Changing the pages or changing calendars doesn’t change time. See? A lot of people say, “Well, the old year’s gone, throw away the old December calendar and put up the other one, the new year.” That’s what new years means to them.

[142] To me, I want to see what’s promised for the day. I want to know what the Light of the hour is, so I can know how to walk in it. I want to know where I’m living, what age I’m in, how far up the road I am?

Now we can see that Bro. Branham preached this sermon for one reason. He wasn’t interested in January 1st from December the 31st. He didn’t care about that. Let’s face it. He used it as preachers do, in order to attract people at a certain time, with a certain subject, in case they might happily show them the grace of God. That’s why he preached Christmas messages. That’s why he preached Easter messages. And that’s why any preacher preaches them, because, believe me, the birth of Christ is every day in the year, the death of Christ is every day in the year, and the Resurrection is every day in the year, and the life is every day in the year, and He doesn’t change! It’s simply a special occasion where he can draw people’s attention to what he wants to rivet them with. And the idea is this: you’re looking at a New Year. Let me tell you now, get your thoughts off of one day—December 31 to January 1. If you want something really different, you better go to the Message, the Word of God. That’s what he’s telling you.

32. Next:

[142] I want to see what’s promised for the day. I want to know what the Light of the hour is, so I can know how to walk in it. I want to know where I’m going, what age I’m in, and how far up the road I am. In other words, how far toward the Millennium am I?

In other words Bro. Branham is telling us here: “Do not change the calendar, but change your mind.” Let’s go back to John 12, where we were a little while ago, and we’ll read a little bit. Beginning at Jn 12:23:

(23) And Jesus answered, (and said), The hour is come, that the Son of man (shall) be glorified.

(24) Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall (on) the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bring(s) forth much fruit.

(25) He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

(26) If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant (also) be: (and) if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

(27) Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

(28) Father, glorify thy name. Then came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. (Down the road. The Voice from heaven, going to glorify it. Mount Transfiguration, and every point at this point, is transferred down to this hour of the Presence.)

(29) The people therefore, stood by, heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel (spoke) to him.

(30) Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

(31) Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

From that, throwing the stone up in the air, so to speak, from that voice, came the Voice of this hour, proving the prince of this world’s judged. Satan and his lies fully exposed. You know exactly who is Bride and who isn’t Bride. You exactly know destiny by vindication.

(32) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (That’s in the crucifixion.)

(33) This he said, signifying what death he should die.

(34) The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abide(s) for ever: how sayest thou, The Son of man be lifted up? who is this Son of man?

(35) (And) Jesus said, Yet a little while the light (is) with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not wither he goeth. (And the church is wretched, miserable, blind. Time left?)

(36) While ye have (the) light, believe in the light, that (you) may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

(37) But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

33. Notice? Now, if He does miracles again, do you think they’re going to believe?

Why, everybody says, “Sure I’ll believe.”

And they turn around and make it the devil. How much faith is there?

(37) But though he had done many miracles, yet they believed not on him:

(38) That the saying of (Isaiah) the prophet might be fulfilled, which spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

What is that based upon? That is based upon a vindicated ministry! Read It again. He positively did the works, the miracles. They still wouldn’t believe.

(38) That the saying of (Isaiah should) be fulfilled, Lord, who hath believed our report? (Who believes what they’re seeing? Who knows God’s) arm (has) been revealed?

If this is what Bro. Branham said, [Bro. Vayle points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] you have seen a perfect revelation of Jesus the Christ, and the words of Isaiah have been fulfilled again.

(39) Therefore they could not believe, because (Isaiah had) said,

(40) He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

(41) These things said (Isaiah), when he saw his glory, and (spoke) of him. (Very same thing today, it’s going on.)

34. Now, let’s go to 1 John. And we go over these Scriptures all the time; I believe in repetition, until we know exactly everything we’re supposed to know. And, once you know continuity, that’s all you need to know. 1 Jn 1:5-7.

(5) This then is the message we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

In other words God is all Word. God is all Word, all living, vindicated Word.

(6) (And) if we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

In other words, when vindication comes and you turn it down, you’re a liar! You claim to be a Christian; you’re not a Christian! You say you’ve got the light, you’re wrong. You’re in darkness.

(7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light (now we’re talking right now of the morning star), we have fellowship one with another,

35. Do you see why it is I say this church has got to be built on nothing but the revealed Word? Never mind anything else.

You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, what about our conduct?”

Forget your conduct. You can do what you want with it! But keep it out of these services! You got the cart before the horse! Why do you think Cain killed his brother? Tell me! I’ve preached for eight solid years to you. I want an answer from the floor. Why did he kill his brother? Because his deeds were evil. What was his evil deed? He was off the Word! Now, when you’re on the Word, you’re going to have the love and everything else you’re talking about.

I try to get this across to you, time after time. How much I’m getting across, I don’t know, I’m not here to judge. But if this Word’s really getting across there will be an indissoluble union amongst us. There will be the love we’re talking about. Listen, there’ll be that fellowship, one with another, based on this Word. So, get your eyes on the Word.

36. Don’t you see why I preach the way I preach? We’ve got to come to this place where everybody’s got to come. Eve wouldn’t come there, and Adam stuck with Eve. Leave the crowd and go without the gate with Jesus, the Word.

37. Now, listen:

(7) If we walk in the light (That’s the light of the morning stars, what we’re talking about right now. See? What about it?), as he is in the light, (What’s he doing in this hour.) we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son (is cleansing us.)

And that takes care of your conduct. Bro. Branham categorically said, the Laodicean Age, the Age that we’re living in right now, we are at the highest virtue we attain to, which is brotherly kindness, which is a stickiness. But he said, “It will rise to the occasion. If somebody’s brother’s in trouble, somebody’s sick, someone got a problem,” he said, “you’ll rush right there and try to help them.”

Have we got that far? Well come on, you answer my question. I’m not being hard on anybody. I’d like some answers. See? But I’m going to tell you something; you don’t get there outside of this Word; because, if you haven’t got it, doesn’t do you any good anyway. The Blood does not cleanse outside of the Light. The Blood does not cleanse outside of the Word, because Christ was the bleeding bloody Word, the blood of God. How you going to separate the Word from the Blood? You tell me. How you going to separate then the Blood from Light? You can’t do it. It’s right here in the Book! Hebrews 10, the same thing. Trample underfoot the blood of the Covenant, wherewith he’s sanctified; make it an unholy thing. Why? Turning down the Word.

38. See, this is what we’re looking at. Every channel to the soul filled with the Word of God; the mind loaded with the Word of God, is going to bring forth the light, and we are supposed to rise and shine, which means take our position with vindication.

I say, “Look, you can shoot me; go ahead. You can torture me. I might say there’s nothing to it, but in my heart you can’t take it away.” That’s it! Live or die, sink or swim. You tell me, what else is there? God have mercy. What can we produce or has anybody else ever produced? I was around all the big shots: Oral Roberts, and Tommy Osborne, and Bro. Hicks, and Clifton Erikson. Sure, I knew them all. I was around W.B. Grant, a certain amount about A.A. Allen, all those—all around them. Let me tell you: all put together they didn’t have a little finger of what Bro. Branham had in a little finger. They never had it! Look how everyone is going wrong with women and with men and with money, and God knows what. Show me one place where Bro. Branham ever had his character impugned by one act or one word. And he talks about these guys. He said, “They couldn’t wait. They couldn’t wait.” And he said, “Waiting is a virtue,” and he used virtue as ‘dunamis’. Yes. Arise and shine, identify yourself with the Word. See? Okay.

39. Now, he said, “I want to know how far up on the road I am.” What road? The scriptural road that leaves from Calvary to the Holy City—to the Lamb on the throne. How close am I to getting home, where I come to a certain place, and I can’t miss it? When you and I come here, dynamized, there’s no way we’ll miss it, because they without us cannot be made perfect. In other words they cannot finish their course until we finish ours! What is our course? The last part of the Word! They can’t come out of the grave until we get the last part of the Word! They’re waiting on us. We think that we’re waiting on them! That’s not so. They’re waiting on us. How far are we? We’re right to where Peter said, “The Word of prophecy made more sure.” What does he mean, made more sure?

The Word back there that Jesus said, “Some of you will not die till you see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom,” that was just a vision! That wasn’t the Word made sure—the prophecy made sure! It was made sure to them that they knew it was coming, and they’re waiting two thousand years for it. And we’re standing right here in the presence of the One that’s doing it! They’re not in that Presence. We’re in that Presence! The same Voice that said to Bro. Branham, “You can’t go to Him!” The same thing is said to them. They’ve got to wait for their time.

40. Now we’ll start talking of this period. Get this in your minds now, talking of this period that Bro. Branham said, “How far up the road am I? The Kingdom, where am I at in it?” He wants to answer the question, not any longer from Peter speaking of the Day Star, although the Day Star is still hanging in evidence, but he wants to know: show us, what about Paul? Where do we stand with Paul? We start tomorrow morning.

Let’s bow our heads in prayer. 

Heavenly Father, we want to thank You again for Your kindness to us. And though we know Lord, the message may sound kind of harsh coming from a person that’s not very wonderful in his speech, in his ways, but at least honest, Lord, we do thank You anyway for the Word, and pray that no matter how it’s given, we believe that it was given with the right atmosphere, because it’s a dynamized Word. It’s a vindicated Word. And that’s what our thoughts are: to bring before the people the realization, every minute of their lives if possible, that we are living in the Presence of Him Who has returned to the Pillar of Fire, as Bro. Branham said, stands ready to raise the dead; but, even at this minute, more important, here to bring us a complete revelation of what we have need of in our own little areas, whatever they may be. And that’s what counts, Father, tonight.

And we pray that we all may come to the place, Lord, of receiving the full revelation that we have need of in this hour. Knowing Lord that the dead are waiting upon us. We’re not waiting upon them, Lord, except in a very limited way. We know that no matter how far that we come, and we can go all the way, it means that they’ll come forth resurrected before we’re glorified. But in the long run it still means the truth. They’re waiting on us, and they without us cannot be made perfect. We have this better thing that Peter spoke of. The great witness to the Son, “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased,” as the prophet said. Lord, all these things we thank You for, we just ask You now as we go preparing for the taking the Word, Lord, and the Communion, Foot-washing, You’ll bless us therein. And give us what we have need of.

We’ll give You the praise in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

[Bro. Vayle proceeds on with the Communion and Foot-washing service.]

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;